Taylor Swift premieres “Midnights”, her new album


“Everything in me changed like midnight” confesses Taylor Swift in the middle of his most recent album, which is very purposefully and emotionally titled “Midnights”. The phrase (“All of me changed like midnight”) comes in the electronic song “Midnight Rain” in which Swift reaches her high point as a songwriter, reminding us of her unparalleled ability to make emotions flow. feel universal.

The song also says: “He was sunshine, I was midnight rain” (He was the brightness of the sun, I was the midnight rain). And he continues: “I wanted it comfortable, I wanted that pain. He wanted a bride, I was making my own name. Chasing that fame. He stayed the same” (He wanted something comfortable, I wanted that pain. He wanted a wife, I was creating my own name. Chasing that fame. He stayed the same). Then he adds: “Everything in me changed like midnight.”

The song’s sound feels experimental to Swift, beginning with her voice artificially altered to lower it almost beyond recognition. In the album it’s the track with the most interesting sound, an indie-pop beat that recalls producer Jack Antonoff’s work on Lorde’s “Melodrama”, but also has a fresh and captivating feel.

The lyrics, composed by Swift and Antonoff, are firm and detailed, but not distracting, allowing you to get into the rhythm, the flow and the feeling with it.

In the 13 songs of “Midnights” (“Republic Records”), a self-aware Swift shows her ability to evolve once again. And in typical Swift fashion, she came with surprises up her sleeve, premiering seven additional songs and the music video for “Anti-Hero” hours after “Midnights” debuted.

in his 10th album original, the 32-year-old pop star approaches the themes she grew up writing with: love, loss, childhood, fame, but with a maturity that shows in a refined vocal performance and lyrics more focused on her inner life than on his external character.

“Midnight Rain” may be the summary of the project that she has described as songs composed during “13 sleepless nights”, an appropriate approach to the concept of the project. album for someone who has appreciated the late hours of the night throughout his compositions, as in “Style”. Swift has previously centered her work around tracks before, on “Red,” an ode to that color and the emotions it represents, “reputation,” a vengeful reconfiguration of herself, and most recently on the quarantine albums “folklore” and ” evermore”, who expressed vulnerability in ways that only isolation could.

But Swift presents “Midnights” as something different: A collection of songs that don’t necessarily have to go together, but fit together because she’s declared them products of late-night inspiration. By positioning the listener situationally, in the quiet but thoughtful dark of night, rather than thematically, it feels like a natural creative experiment for a songwriter so prolific that her albums have become synonymous with the moment in pop culture.

And with that comes a tone that’s a little darker, a little more experimental, and electronic.

The first track, “Lavender Haze,” mixes a bit of a distorted club beat and Antonoff’s high-pitched vocals, with a stirring melody from Swift. “Maroon” is a more grown-up, weather-beaten take on “Red,” a look at lost love with descriptions of rust, spilled wine and red lipstick — images Swift conjures up again, but with more flavor this time.

“Labyrinth” makes it clear that she brings with her the best of her previous pop experiments, the synths of “1989” and the softer alternative sounds of “folk”, with lyrics only a songwriter could express about heartbreak: “It only feels this raw right now, lost in the labyrinth of my mind” (“It feels so raw now, lost in the labyrinth of my mind”) on a track that has Bon Iver-style electronic touches.

Swift shines when she’s able to marry her typical lyrical musings with this new field of electronic beats. And even though this is not another album from acoustic indie sounds like “folk,” it’s clear that Swift has taken the indie-pop genre a step further — even if it’s in a different direction.

The weakest moments album are the ones where he seems unbalanced. “Bejeweled” is a little too sweet, with lyrics that feel like an updated, brighter version of “ME!” The much-anticipated “Snow On The Beach,” featuring Lana Del Rey, is poetic, cute, and a little irreverent, but not as emotionally deep as the combined power of these songwriters would suggest.

But even at those points in “Midnights,” Swift is comfortable in her musical skin, revealing the strength of a sharp, ever-evolving artist who can wink through ever-cryptic allusions to her very public life and other more subtle commentary. about embarrassing moments scattered amidst lyrical confessions (like on “Anti-Hero” and “Mastermind”), and hooking even a casual listener with a surprisingly engaging beat.

Like the romantic “Lover” and the intimate “folklore” and “evermore,” “Midnights” feels like a confession and a playground, created by all versions of Taylor Swift that we have known so far so that a new Taylor Swift shine. And as always, we are willing to accompany you on that walk at midnight.

Source-www.diariolibre.com